An operation to find Chechen rebel leaders Shamil Basayev and Aslan Maskhadov is underway in the mountains of Chechnya, Chechen Deputy Interior Minister Sultan Satuyev told Interfax on Sunday.
About damned time, isn't it?
"We have intelligence suggesting that Basayev and Maskhadov are in Chechnya and are most probably hiding in the mountains," Satuyev said.
Inside the Secret Lair™.
He said mobile police groups have been formed at the order of Chechen Deputy Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov, who is responsible for the law-enforcement agencies, to gather intelligence about Basayev and Maskhadov, and to carry out an operation to neutralize them. This work is being done jointly with the combined forces in the North Caucasus, the Federal Security Service and interior troops, Satuyev said, adding that over 1,000 people are involved. Simultaneously, operations to track down and eliminate illegal rebel formations are being carried out, said Satuyev. Dozens of rebels have been eliminated and a large amount of ammunition has been seized since the beginning of September, he said. "The law-enforcement agencies have been ordered to take maximum measures to arrest Maskhadov and Basayev. But if these people offer armed resistance, putting the lives of policemen under threat, they will be eliminated," Satuyev said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/19/2004 2:27:16 PM ||
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Lithuania shut down on Saturday a Chechen separatist web site operating from the country and used by warlord Shamil Basayev to claim responsibility for the Beslan school siege. The web site, Kavkazcenter.com, was blocked by the state security department and now displays a message saying that it has been temporarily disabled pending the outcome of a court decision on its legality. In the past, Chechen rebels, including Basayev and former separatist president Aslan Maskhadov, had used the site for statements on the conflict. A state security department spokesman said the site had been closed while an investigation is conducted to determine whether the site had been used to "blatantly propagate material that promotes terrorism and ethnic strife," the Baltic News Service reported.
The closing of the site followed a meeting Friday of the country's defense council, after which Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas said it would be shut down. The web site has caused a diplomatic rift between Russia and Lithuania. Lithuania's ambassador was summoned last week to the Foreign Ministry and told "in tough terms" to ensure the site ceased its activity, the ministry said in a statement. At Moscow's urging, Vilnius tried to close down the site last year. However, a Lithuanian court ruled that the site could not be closed, and the country's Constitutional Court is expected to weigh in on the issue next year. The web site used to operate from servers in the United States and Britain, but was removed after its users were accused of sending thousands of spam e-mails to Internet users around the world.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/19/2004 2:39:39 PM ||
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#1
Lithuania shut down on Saturday a Chechen separatist web site operating from the country and used by warlord Shamil Basayev to claim responsibility for the Beslan school siege
Maybe Aris can fill in. ;o)
But seriously, kavlazcenter.org will be back up before too long.
A GUNBATTLE between riot police and a group of armed men in the forests of southern Russia early today left three police and three unidentified gunmen dead, the regional interior ministry said. Another two gunmen who escaped during the exchange of fire were tracked down and killed, Dagestan Interior Minister Aldigirei Magomedtagirov said. The police had been conducting a search operation in the forests near the village of Talgi, about 10km south-east of Dagestan's regional capital, Makhachkala, when they found the armed men in a tent, ministry spokeswoman Angela Martirosova said. The men opened fire on the police, she said. It was not immediately clear who the men were, but Magomedtagirov said they had been living in well-equipped tents and appeared to be a highly organised group. No details were given about how many men were involved.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/19/2004 2:30:52 PM ||
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Russian officials say police in Moscow have defused a car bomb that was to be placed along a road often used by government officials. They're learning...
Authorities say they stopped a man they had become suspicious of early Saturday in the Russian capital and found he was driving a car wired with explosives. Police say the driver appeared to be intoxicated and told them he had been paid $1,000 to park cars packed with explosives along the street. This man worked cheap. Only $1000?
"Yeah. Wash wrong widdat? People gimme $1000 to park carsh for 'em all the time!"
"And da bestest t'ing is, I don't hafs to bring dem back!"
The Itar-Tass news agency quotes the man as saying the explosives were to have been set off as participants in an international mayors' conference approached. I'll bet the Moscow cops don't worry about the ACLU whining about racial profiling...
Itar-Tass says the 38-year-old man was from the St. Petersburg area. News agency reports say he later died of a heart attack. "Sergei! Sergei! That's too much electricity. He's not moving! We haven't finished questioning him yet..."
"He's dead, Dzhim!"
Russia has been on alert following a series of recent terrorist attacks, including a school siege that killed at least 338 people, scores of them children. New measures of alert are paying off, I see...
Posted by: BigEd ||
09/19/2004 6:00:41 AM ||
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Police say the driver appeared to be intoxicated
I believe the Russian word for that is 'redundant'.
A Lebanese citizen and organizer of an Islamic conference being planned in Berlin for early next month and which German authorities have vowed to stop was deported on Saturday, officials said.
"Get the hell out and don't come back, Mahmoud!"
The decision to revoke the visa and send the man home to Lebanon was made in coordination with the federal state prosecutor's office following an investigation into his membership in questionable organizations, a spokesman for the regional minister of interior for the city-state of Berlin, Ehrhart Körting. "Those foreign nationals who do not recognize the laws of our state and call on attacks and hate against others from our territory have lost all rights to live in Germany," said Körting.
Is that kind of good sense allowed in Europe these days?
Berlin daily Berliner Morgenpost reported that Fadi Madi, spokesman for the "International Movement against American and Zionist Globalization and Supremacy" was deported to his home country of Lebanon on Saturday evening for his alleged anti-Israel and anti-US stance. The paper said Madi had been in Beirut last week drumming up support for the conference and was confronted by Berlin authorities when he returned to the German capital.
"Ummm... Hi, there, Fritz! You here to welcome me home?"
"Into the paddy wagon wit' yez!"
Federal prosecutors had been investigating Madi on suspicion he belonged to a banned organization, the paper said. Germany is doing its best to put a stop to the October 1-3 conference, which organizers billed as supporting "the struggle against the American-Zionist hegemony and occupation" in the Palestinian territories and Iraq. Their website also calls for resistance to "American and Zionist terrorism." A spokesman for the conference's organizers refused to comment on the situation. On Friday the German government announced it would not provide visas for anyone stating that attending the conference was the purpose of their visit to Germany.
"We're... uhhh... on our way to Oktoberfest?"
"You guys got turbans. You don't drink beer."
German Interior Minister Otto Schily also said Friday he was examining every possibility to prevent the conference taking place, although he added there had been no formal application to hold the event, and no venue has been advertised. Schily said last week that the conference "seems to fall under the heading of justifying terrorist acts" and that we was trying to ban it.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/19/2004 4:52:44 PM ||
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#1
Interesting tidbit about this guy. The German authorities first learned about the conference he was planning because his battered wife (divorced now) told them about it.
Not wise to beat your wife when you're planning... ummm.. secret things.
#2
Heh, heh - this story is sooooo sweet to read. It raises the German Govt 10 notches in my book that they are willing to confront the asshats and apply their laws, just as they would with any other hate group. This "conference" was discussed here in RB about, what, 7-8 days ago - and the general gist was that they didn't have to tolerate these cretins. And they aren't, lol! Very cool - and as TGA said in another thread, Sharia won't be instituted in Germany anytime soon, heh.
I think this is a classic bitch-slapping. *applause*
#3
Congratulations to Germany on the first sane thing coming out of Europe since the arrest of Abu Hamza. The sooner Europe realizes that Islamism = Hate speech and genocide advocacy, the better off this entire world will be. I'd imagine you're feeling pretty chuffed right about now, TGA. Well you should be. That Britain allowed a similar conference to be staged shows just how far they have to go in combating terrorism on their own shores.
#4
My Wife and I are examining our right of return to Germany. We would have to learn German ways a customs as they were pretty muched wiped out in the late 1930's here. If a John Kerry type were to get elected someday we are planning on leaving.
The military is investigating reports that foreigners brandishing heavy weapons were seen traveling with Muslim extremists in a remote town in MinÂÂdanao, an official said Friday. Col. Jerry Jalandoni, commander of the Army's 604th Infantry Brigade, said villagers reported earlier this week they had seen several Middle Eastern-looking men lugging high-powered machine guns and luggage on their backs in the company of Abu Sayyaf bandits. "The locals described them as tall, mustached, wearing heavy beards and could not speak the local dialect," Jalandoni told The Associated Press.
He said the men were with more than 40 mostly Abu Sayyaf men who had dinner and stayed overnight on Monday in the house of a village leader in mountainous Bagumbayan town's Bai Sarifinang village. The group is reportedly led by Isnilon Hapilon, a top Abu Sayyaf leader wanted by Washington in connection with the abduction and killing of US hostages, Jalandoni said. The next day, Jalandoni said, the village leader reported the presence of the armed men to the military, but troops failed to catch up with the group because heavy rains and fog grounded military helicopters. The group was apparently headed toward nearby South Cotabato. "Our pursuit continues, and maybe if we kill someone among them, that's the time we could find out if they are really foreigners," Jalandoni said.
The military has previously reported the presence of Middle Eastern-looking men suspected to be al-Qaeda militants posing as missionaries in the southern Philippines. Authorities have arrested dozens of Middle Eastern men in the south in past years on suspicion they were terrorists.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/19/2004 2:40:43 PM ||
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#1
But don't you dare profile - that would offend their incredibly sensitive sentivities! And that would be, well, it would be a calamity for sensitivenessityous people everywhere!
INDONESIAN police say the manhunt for the perpetrators of the Sept 9 blast outside the Australian embassy would soon bear fruit with the arrest of alleged accomplices of Malaysian bomb experts Azahari Husin and Noordin Mohammad Top. National Police chief General Da'i Bachtiar said four suspects were under arrest, including three detained before the blast. He said nine other people were being questioned and some of them could emerge as suspects. 'With the arrest of these people our investigation has become more focused,' Gen Bachtiar told a press conference yesterday. The arrests were made in two locations in the western part of Java and North Jakarta. The suspects were alleged to have helped prepare the explosives used in the bomb attack and to have harboured the Malaysian fugitives. 'They were not directly involved in the bombing. For example, they admitted they knew the packages they were moving from one place to another were explosives. They also confessed they were with Azahari right before the explosion,' Gen Bachtiar said.
Must have used the lineman's pliers.
One of the four suspects under arrest has been identified as A.A.H. He was given the task of transporting explosive materials by Azahari. Azahari and Noordin are believed to have masterminded the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, the JW Marriott Hotel attack in Jakarta that claimed 12 lives and the latest blast that left at least 10 people dead, including one of the perpetrators. Police yesterday also issued a sketch of the last buyer of a truck used in the embassy bombing. Gen Bachtiar said the man's facial features were similar to those of a suspect on a police wanted list. A police source said that after multiple arrests, they were concentrating their manhunt on West Java, including Bandung and Cirebon.
Police last week issued sketches of the 10 most-wanted mutts suspects linked to the embassy bombing. The sketches included those of Azahari and Noordin. Two other suspects, Hasan and Jabir alias Nanang, were also named last week. They are believed to have been recruited by Noordin as suicide bombers. The police sketches included those of two other Bali bombing suspects, Dulmatin and Umar alias Patek, the alleged commander of Jemaah Islamiah's armed wing, Zulkarnaen, and five other men named as Rois, Abu Dujana, Hasan, Ibrahim Nurdin and Zuhroni alias Oni.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/19/2004 1:11:11 AM ||
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BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Terrorists sawed off the heads of three hostages believed to be Iraqi Kurds in a grisly videotape that surfaced Sunday, hours after Iraq's prime minister said January elections would be held on schedule and asserted that American and Iraqi troops were winning the fight against an increasingly bold insurgency.
In another sign of continuing instability 17 months into the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq, a suicide car bomb killed three people in Samarra-- a northern city that U.S. and Iraqi commanders have portrayed as a success story in their attempts to put down the insurgency.
Over the past week, about 300 people have been killed in escalating violence, including bombings, street fighting and U.S. air strikes. Last week, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned there could not be "credible elections if the security conditions continue as they are now."
But Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, who spoke with reporters after a meeting with British leader Tony Blair in London, said his interim government was determined "to stick to the timetable of the elections," which are due by Jan. 31.
"January next, I think, is going to be a major blow to terrorists and insurgents," said Allawi, who is heading to the United Nations for this week's General Assembly session. "We are adamant that democracy is going to prevail, is going to win in Iraq."
Allawi, a Sunni Muslim, has been insistent about holding elections on time because of pressure from Iraq's Shiite Muslim community and its most powerful cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who fought for early elections. Reneging on the vote would risk angering the generally cooperative Shiite religious establishment.
Shiites, who are in the majority in Iraq, are eager to translate their numbers into political power.
But alongside the increasing violence, several cities in the Sunni Muslim heartland north and west of Baghdad are out of U.S. and Iraqi government control, with insurgents holding sway, particularly in the city of Fallujah. That raises questions on whether balloting can be held there-- and the legitimacy of elections held without adequate Sunni participation.
Republican and Democratic senators urged the Bush administration on Sunday to face the reality of the situation in Iraq and change its policies. A major problem, said leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on CBS' "Face the Nation," was incompetence by the administration in reconstructing the country's shattered infrastructure.
"The fact is a crisp, sharp analysis of our policies is required. We didn't do that in Vietnam, and we saw 11 years of casualties mount to the point where we finally lost," said Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Vietnam War veteran who is co-chairman of President Bush's re-election committee in Nebraska.
The decapitated bodies of the three slain Kurdish hostages were found on a road near the northern city of Mosul, said Sarkawt Hassan, security chief in the Kurdish town of Sulaimaniyah. He said the three were members of the peshmerga militia of the Kurdistan Democratic Party.
The videotape, posted Sunday on a site known for its Islamic militant content, shows three young men, two of whom hold up identity cards. Seconds later, each has his throat slit and his head placed on the back of his body.
The Ansar al-Sunna Army-- a Sunni militant group that said it killed 12 Nepalese hostages in August and carried out Feb. 1 suicide attacks against Kurdish political parties that killed 109 people-- claimed responsibility for the beheadings in a statement with the video.
It said the three were KDP members snatched as they were transporting military vehicles to a base in Taji, 15 miles north of Baghdad.
The group said it was targeting Iraqi Kurdish parties because they have "sworn allegiance to the crusaders and fought and are still fighting Islam and its people."
The tape and the statement could not be independently verified.
Later, the Arab news station Al-Jazeera aired a separate video claiming 18 captured Iraqi soldiers would be killed unless a detained aide of rebel Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr was freed in 48 hours. The men in military dress were shown seated at gunpoint in the video from a group calling itself the Brigades of Mohammed bin Abdullah.
No audio was aired, but Al-Jazeera's announcer said the militants threatened to kill the 18 unless Hazem al-A'araji, who was detained in a raid by U.S. and Iraqi forces on al-Sadr's Baghdad offices on Saturday, is freed.
The videos surfaced the day before the Tawhid and Jihad group, led by Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has threatened to behead Americans Jack Hensley and Eugene Armstrong and Briton Kenneth Bigley, who were seized from their Baghdad house last week.
The group, which has claimed responsibility for a series of bombings and hostage takings, demands the release of Iraqi women from the American controlled Abu Ghraib and Umm Qasr prisons.
Abu Ghraib is the prison where U.S. soldiers were photographed sexually humiliating male prisoners, but the U.S. military says no women are held at either facility, though it says it is holding two female "security prisoners" elsewhere.
More than 100 foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq, some for lucrative ransoms, and many have been executed. At least five other Westerners are currently being held hostage here, including an Iraqi-American man, two female Italian aid workers and two French reporters.
Lebanon's Foreign Ministry said Sunday that three Lebanese men and their Iraqi driver were abducted by gunmen on the Baghdad-Fallujah highway Friday night. The four worked for a travel agency that has a branch in Baghdad, a Foreign Ministry official said
Sunday's attack in Samarra, 65 miles north of Baghdad, came less than a week after American forces re-entered the city, which had been under insurgents' control and a virtual "no-go" area for U.S. troops since May 30.
The Americans returned under a peace deal brokered by tribal leaders under which U.S. forces agreed to provide millions of dollars in reconstruction funds in exchange for an end to attacks on American and Iraqi troops.
The blast killed an Iraqi soldier, a civilian and the suicide bomber and wounded four American and three Iraqi soldiers, said Maj. Neal O'Brien of the Army's 1st Infantry Division.
Allawi has pointed to the Samarra deal as an example of success in a fight he insists U.S and Iraqi forces are winning against the insurgents.
"We are squeezing out the insurgency," he said in an interview with ABC's "This Week," taped on Friday and aired Sunday. "We have secured Samarra now, which was an important tie for insurgencies and the so-called resistance."
Meanwhile, U.S. warplanes and artillery pounded the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah late Saturday and early Sunday, killing four people and wounding six, hospital officials said. The military said it hit a checkpoint manned by militants linked to al-Zarqawi, the military said.
Elswhere, four insurgents were killed when a bomb they were attempting to plant at the side of a road near the eastern Iraqi city of Suwayrah exploded shortly before midnight Saturday, a military spokesman said
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
09/19/2004 10:02:17 PM ||
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From Haaretz 9/19
Palestinian sources said late Sunday evening that a leading Hamas militant had been killed in an Israel Defense Forces missile strike on his car in northern Gaza City. Palestinian sources said that Khaled Abu-Shamiyeh, 30, a resident of the Shati refugee camp next to Gaza City, was killed and three other Palestinians were wounded in the attack. Their identities were not immediately known. Abu-Shamiyeh had survived an attack two weeks ago when the Israel Air Force....
The grenade was visible when the insurgent stepped in front of our car. His sinewy arm was cocked, ready to throw. Fifteen more men poured out from the corner of a nearby tenement, swirling about the car like angry floodwaters. They brandished grenades and AK-47s, pistol grips nudging out from under the folds of their shirts. Spotting me in the backseat, they went into a frenzy, yanking on the handles of the doors, thumping the window with the grenades. Across Iraq, the insurgents have gone on a kidnapping spree, seizing Italian aid workers, French journalists and American construction workers. As they ordered us out of the car, I wondered whether we were about to become their latest catch.
An Iraqi resistance fighter traveling as an escort was quickly out of the car, speaking to the group in a somber, authoritative tone, insisting they let us go. A furious curbside debate flared. My escort continued to plead, dropping the names of high-level insurgent leaders. After what seemed like an eternity, the insurgents relented.
They pushed me back into our Mazda sedan and ordered us to leave. We were lucky. The fighters included Iraqis, Syrians and Jordanians. They were members of Attawhid wal Jihad (Unity and Holy War), a militant group loyal to Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi, the most wanted terrorist in Iraq. The group's black flags flutter from the palm trees and buildings along the Baghdad boulevard where we were stopped, an area known as Haifa Street. It's a no-go zone for U.S. forces.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/19/2004 3:12:44 PM ||
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Oh baby!
"sinewy"
"swirling about the car like angry floodwaters"
"brandished"
"nudging"
"latest catch"
"curbside debate flared"
"black flags flutter"
"no-go zone"
Pappy's gonna come unglued over this laughable bit of puffery! The romanticism employed by the MSM is truly infantile. Time. Pfeh.
#2
.com: The romanticism employed by the MSM is truly infantile. Time. Pfeh.
3 a day - and they control the streets? This is like saying criminals are running wild in NYC - without increasing the crime rate.
Time: They brandished grenades and AK-47s, pistol grips nudging out from under the folds of their shirts.
I guess in the time lexicon, this makes them "heavily armed". The reality is that just about every family in Iraq has an AK-47, grenades, pistols and plenty of ammo. This guy is trying to imply that the guerrillas' easy access to weaponry is proof that the American effort is failing. But the reality is that most families in Iraq have significant protection.
Having to melt back into the population is a weakness, not a strength. If the guerrillas were in charge, they wouldn't have to melt back into the population. In American cities, when the police are away, the gangsters come out and play. Doesn't mean that gangsters run American cities, or that the city streets are no-go zones. It simply means that it's not economical to hire millions of security men to be permanently stationed on every square foot of the country. If these are no-go zones, why do they scatter when US troops show up? Shouldn't they make mincemeat of US forces? This is why these "news" reports tick me off - the "journalists" are peddling their panic-stricken reaction to almost being kidnapped as the situation in Iraq.
#4
.com: ZF - I wonder if his Iraqi camerman snapped his wet pants and is holding out for being treated like a human...
The problem with articles like this is that the journos who write them think they're recreating "The Heart of Darkness". To them, it's all about their emotions rather than what's actually happening. It would be nice to get some articles that actually report the news rather than the journos' instinct to curl up into a fetal position.
Feelings
Nothing more then feelings
Trying to forget my
Feelings of hate
Imagine
Beating on your face
Trying to forget my
Feelings of hate
Feelings
For all my life i'll feel it
I wish I'd never met you
You'll make me sick again
Feelings
Woh-oh-oh feelings
Woh-oh-oh feelings
Of hate on my mind
Feelings
Feelings like I never liked you
Feelings like I want to kill you
Live in my heart
Feelings
Feelings like I wanna deck you
Feelings like I've gotta get you
Out of my life
Feelings
Woh-oh-oh feelings
Woh-oh-oh feelings
Hate's in my eyes
Feelings
Woh-oh-oh feelings
Woh-oh-oh feelings
You're not very nice
GO!
[solo]
Feelings
Woh-oh-oh feelings
Woh-oh-oh feelings
Hate's on my mind
Feelings
Woh-oh-oh feelings
Woh-oh-oh feelings
Get out of my life (x2)
[
Fierce clashes were going on in the Kunigram and Karvan Manza areas of South Waziristan between security forces and miscreants while it has also been disclosed that a close aide of America's most wanted in Iraq Abu Musaab-Al-Zarqawi was also present in Shakai. Geo's correspondent in Shakai Hamid Mir citing Pakistan Army officials has said that clashes between some foreign militants and security forces were going on in Kunigram. They said that the foreign militants were hiding in about eight areas in South Waziristan. Moreover a passport of Jordanian national Abdullah Khaliq Mohammad Al-Haj Al Zarqawi was also been found who was working as a computer expert with Al-Qaeda. He was arrived in Afghanistan five years back accompanying with Abu Musa'ab Al Zarqawi. Security officials have recovered many computers, laptops, CDs, letters and a diary of Abdullah Khaliq Al Zarqawi in which many names were mentioned in Arabic.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/19/2004 3:16:24 PM ||
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Israeli soldiers shot dead one Palestinian and wounded two others near the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun Sunday morning, Palestinian medical and security officials said. They identified the dead man as Rami Abu Lehya and said he was apparently a member of one of the militant organizations. Israel Radio reported that Israeli soldiers had spotted three Palestinian militants approaching the fence along Gaza's northern border, apparently with the intention of carrying out an attack. The troops opened fire, killing one and wounding the other two.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/19/2004 3:12:49 PM ||
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#1
1 out of 3? Practice time on the range tomorrow - aim for the head
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/19/2004 16:30 Comments ||
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The Israel Air Force killed two Hamas terrorists in a targeted killing on their vehicle late Sunday night, Israel Radio reported.
The two were members of the Hamas military wing, Izzadine al-Kassam.
According to AP, an explosion ripped apart a car in Gaza City.
Ambulances were rushing to the scene.
Eyewitness Omar Arfa, 52, who owns a fast food stand nearby, told AP the street was full of cars. "A spark came from the sky, then there was a huge explosion in part of street."
The military had no immediate comment.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/19/2004 15:17 Comments ||
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#3
Lol! So, does this mean Mashaal will be staying a bit longer in Egypt than first planned?
Iraqi kidnappers may have sold two Italian women hostages to militants tied to Al-Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Deputy Iraqi Foreign Minister Hamid al-Bayati has been quoted as saying. "From the information at our disposal, they were kidnapped by criminal organizations that could have sold them to members of Al-Zarqawi's group," al-Bayati said in a local television interview on Friday, according to state news agency ANSA.
The Iraqi official, visiting Italy, said he had received information that charity workers Simona Pari and Simona Torretta had been transferred from western Baghdad to the restive town of Falluja. The Italians were kidnapped at gunpoint along with two Iraqis in a brazen, daylight attack in the centre of Baghdad on Sept. 7. When asked during an interview with Tg2 television station whether the women were being held by the same militants who threatened to kill one British and two American hostages in an Internet video, al-Bayati said: "Yes, it could be." He added that kidnappers of the Italian aid workers had reportedly demanded the release of Muslim women held in Iraqi prisons, a similar demand put by Al-Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad Group for the release of the Briton and Americans. "But one must look into the case with a lot of attention before deciding who is responsible for this kidnapping," he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/19/2004 2:11:56 PM ||
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Four Algerian civilians have been killed by Islamic rebels at a fake roadblock in northern Algeria, local residents said on Sunday. The attack occurred on Saturday evening near the city of Bouira, some 90 km (60 miles) southeast of the capital Algiers, said residents, who declined to be named. Authorities were not immediately available for a comment. About 13 civilians and soldiers have died in rebel attacks this week, most blamed on the al Qaeda-aligned Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC). A similar number of militants have been killed in recent days as the armed forces continue a sweep on rebel hideouts in western and eastern Algeria.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/19/2004 2:12:52 PM ||
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#1
Only 25? Coalition troops kidnap capture guerrillas all the time. In fact there are thousands of them in prison now. You'd think that with the ability to blend into the crowd, given that guerrillas are in civvies, they'd have managed to kidnap more people by now. The fact that they're kidnapping people tells me that (1) they're running out of suicide bombers, so one-way tickets are out, and (2) they're afraid of opening fire, because the security forces' response times to gunfire have improved.
U.S. warplanes and artillery units fired on the insurgent-held city of Fallujah overnight, killing four people and wounding six, hospital officials said Sunday. An artillery barrage on an industrial area in Fallujah early Sunday left two people dead and two others wounded, said Dr. Ahmed Khalil of the Fallujah General Hospital. Late Saturday, U.S. warplanes unleashed missiles on a main street in the city center, killing two people and wounding four, said another hospital official, Dr. Rafea Heyad. The U.S. military had no immediate comment about the attacks on the industrial zone, but said Saturday's strikes hit a checkpoint manned by insurgents linked to alleged terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. "The illegal checkpoint used blockades to disrupt security, intimidate and harass local citizens and interrogate and detain local civilians," the military said in a statement.
Nic-c-c-c-e hole.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/19/2004 1:51:04 PM ||
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#1
Taking out a checkpoint. That might seem to be prepping the place for a rapid insertion.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/19/2004 14:06 Comments ||
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#3
Dr. Ahmed Khalil how many puppies was that? How many baby ducks and kittens? Dr. Rafea Heyad aren't those the same dead baby ducks and kitten we saw the other day?
Look they are all lined up for an air burst. The Grave is ready made as well. How lovely.
#9
A6549: 4? This nickel and dime shit has to stop.
It's not just the 4. It's also the psychological impact. It's like a giant fist reached out of the sky and ground these guys to pulp. Many of the Taliban and al Qaeda were completely demoralized by these bombs. Give it time.
Besides - no point making enemies out of neutrals. I suspect there are a bunch of Iraqi government agents in Fallujah vetting the targets - some of whom might even be the guys who show up on TV demonstrating against the US.
Harrassment is not mututally exclusive of major assault. Terrorizing the terrists is effective because it takes causes them to spend time on personal safety rather than time from planning attacks. It can be quite psychologically stressful to always watch ones back.
Too bad Hellfires are so costly. Predators circling 24/7 can make life hell for those on the receiving end. The Predator is now capable of dropping 500 lb GPU as well. The Hunter can drop BAT which is a much less violent option. I am sure there has been experimentation with attaching stabilized machine gun platform on UAV as well. That would be a terror weapon in situations similar to Fallujah.
Posted by: Joe Shmo ||
09/19/2004 19:55 Comments ||
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#11
I am pretty well convinved that the only casualties we hear about in Sunni areas are the collateral damage. Any bad guys are handled off books.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
09/19/2004 21:21 Comments ||
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#12
43rd holiest crater in Fallujah
Here's hoping we build excavate them a whole lot more "shrines." Fallujah needs to become even "holier" than it is already.
A videotape posted by on a Web site Saturday showed the beheading of three hostages said to be members of an Iraqi Kurdish party, slain for cooperating with American forces, according to their Islamic militant captors. A statement with the video was signed by the Ansar al-Sunna Army, which in August released footage showing 12 Nepalese hostages being killed. The statement identified the hostages as three truck drivers who belong to the Kurdistan Democratic Party, captured in a roadblock near Taji, 15 miles north of Baghdad, as they were transporting military vehicles to an American base in Taji. The video shows three young men showing their identity cards. Seconds later, each has his throat slit. A man is seen cutting off each hostage's head. The heads are then seen placed on the backs of the victims. The "renegade military men, affiliated with the traitor Kurdistan Democratic Party" were beheaded, and their bodies were left on the road to Mosul "for them to be an example to others, and for us to revenge our women, children and elderly who die daily from American raids," the statement said.
The Ansar al-Sunna Army has been accused in a number of attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces as well as on Kurds - including Feb. 1 bombings against Kurdhish political offices in the northern city of Irbil that killed 109 people. On Aug. 31, the group killed 12 Nepalese workers, releasing a video showing one of the hostages being beheaded and the remaining ones shot with an assault rifle. In the statement Saturday, Ansar al-Sunna Army said it has targeted Iraqi Kurdish parties because they have "sworn allegiance to the crusaders and fought and are still fighting Islam and its people." It accused them of protecting American forces in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, as well as near the Taji military base just north of the capital, and elsewhere. The statment also accused the leaders of Iraq's two main Kurdish parties, Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani of being servants of Israel.
Posted by: Charles ||
09/19/2004 13:18 Comments ||
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#2
Does anyone else get the feeling that this sort of ruthless, violent garbage is never going to end, ever?
While thinking on this topic, I came to a stark realization last night. Regardless of the outcome in Iraq, Islamists will persist in terrorism, essentially forever. The Quranic edict to establish their beloved Caliphate will always be made to serve as a pretext for terrorism and aggression. I can envision no end to this political struggle disguised as a religion. There will forever be some faction of Taleban or al Qaeda inspired fanatics who will constantly insist that their's is the only pure version of Islam and how, in the absence of any capitulation, it must be installed by force.
Islam has no central authority or doctrine, save the Quran. As we all have seen, its text can be interpreted nine different ways to Sunday. Just as clearly, there will always be those who shall not hesitate in using force of arms to impose their own vision of fundamentalism in the name of their religion.
Calling upon Islam to reform itself is essentially useless. While certain portions of the faith may do so, there will nonetheless remain other sects or individuals who shall refuse such reinterpretation of doctrine and resort to violence in installing their own particular flavor of belief.
The only glimmer of hope is that Islam itself must voluntarily begin a process of cleansing their ranks from within of all violent jihadist types. Every bit of evidence to date in no way supports any such expectation. Quite the opposite seems to be the case. A consistent undertone of tacit or even overt approval for 9-11 and the string of atrocities that have followed it is all that greets us.
Islam's obsession with ideological supremacy attained by force if necessary must be their downfall. Should Islam prove incapable of understanding how substitution of persuasive argument over violent coercion is incumbent upon them, they must one and all be eradicated from this earth. Again, I see no indication of any intention to correct this virulent strain of thought that pervades the majority of Islam's adherents. Should they persist in maintaining this incompatible stance against all other global cultures, it must be their collective death knell.
SHEIKH Hazem al-Araji, rebel Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Baghdad lieutenant, and his brother were arrested overnight by US-backed Iraqi security forces, a relative and fellow Sadr supporter said today. Iraqi national guardsmen barged into their homes in the capital at 2am (8am AEST), breaking down the doors and firing off a couple of stun grenades, a second brother of Araji, named Kemal, told AFP. "Their only crime is that they are both part of the Sadr movement," said Sadr movement official Naim Kaabi, blaming obscure interest groups for spoiling attempts to end clashes between Sadr loyalists and US-Iraqi government troops. "We protest against Araji's arrest and are waiting for the government or the Americans to tell us why he has been detained," said Kaabi, an engineer.
Prime Minister Iyad Allawi had "promised to stop arrests and release prisoners, so we were surprised that the opposite is happening," Kaabi said. Asked who he thought the spoilers might be, he suggested they were political forces within the government opposed to resolving the conflict or perhaps Americans looking for reasons to justify a longer stay in the country. For their part, the US military said late yesterday that tribal sheikhs in Sadr City were in talks with the Baghdad City Council over a 12-point plan to restore peace to the Shiite slums, home to over two million people. Last month, Sadr pulled his Mehdi Army militia out of Iraq's holy cities of Najaf and Kufa on the order of Shiite spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. But his fighters have continued to clash with US troops in Baghdad. Forty people were killed in Sadr City on September 7. Kaabi denied there was any link between the arrests in Baghdad and incidents in the southern port city of Basra yesterday, where Mehdi Army militiamen clashed with British soldiers. In April, Araji was briefly detained by US soldiers after giving an interview.
Posted by: tipper ||
09/19/2004 10:55:10 AM ||
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#1
Quick! Find some pink lace panties. Maybe we can find where the Mookster himself is...
#2
BigEd - Heh - this article is simply pregnant with bullshit implications (i.e. "They promised! We don't have to keep ours, but they do.") and stupidity (i.e. Kaabi, blaming obscure interest groups and the notion that he's a engineer... Mebbe, if he's the designated family straight-man, heh...). The last time he was arrested was the "trigger" for the Tots to go wild. Puhleeze do it again. Time to end the sham of Tater, the Tots, and all pretense that Iraq can survive by inviting private militias into the political process. Dumbest fucking thing I've heard since the Fallujah muhjis declared victory when the politicians intervened during the same timeframe.
EFL
Hundreds of Marri Baloch tribesmen, armed to the teeth, took up position on the Kohlu mountains, one of Pakistan's most backward, but oil and gas rich areas, to challenge the government's policies in Balochistan. The tribesmen, who call themselves "guerillas" waging a war for the rights of the Baloch population, were armed with Russian Kalashnikovs, heavy machine and anti-aircraft guns and RPGs, picked up in Afghanistan during their 14 years in self-exile. Most of them are educated with military/guerilla training received in Afghanistan. Their chieftain, Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri, who was in self-exile, called his tribesmen to leave their homes and join him in Afghanistan in 1980. More than 12,000 Marris responded to their leader's call and left Pakistan to settle in the Afghan provinces of Kandahar and Helmand. Note, the Baluch's don't follow an Islamist ideology, but instead have leftist and tribal motives. Remember Afghanistan was ruled by the Communists during the eighties. Until the eighties, Baluchistan and the NWFP had a significant presence from leftists, which was a primary motivator for the Saudis and Pakistanis to support radical madrassas in those provinces. Similar to the way the Muslim Brotherhood was supported by the Gulf states to undermine the radical pro-Soviet Arab states like Nasser's Egypt and Assad's Syria.
According to political analysts, Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri, who believes that the Baloch cannot get their political and economic rights without an armed struggle, called his tribesmen to Afghanistan to train them in guerilla warfare. The Marri guerillas are currently lead by Nawabzada Balach Marri, the son of the ailing Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri. Balach, an electronics engineer from Moscow, won the provincial assembly seat from Kohlu with record votes of over 18,000 - the highest ever cast in the constituency - despite all efforts by the administration to support his rival candidate, Mir Mohabat Khan Marri, the then provincial caretaker minister. After a sudden increase in the Marri tribes militant's actions in 2000, other militant groups also joined them to carry out joint actions across the province. Rockets attacks on F.C. posts, landmine and dynamite explosions against F.C. personnel were witnessed in the neighbouring Dera Bugti tribal agency. Similar attacks were also launched in Kalat, Dalbundeen, Khuzdar, Gwadar, and other areas by the militants in a show of strength.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
09/19/2004 7:30:38 AM ||
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The militants, equipped with modern communication gadgets, apart from physical training, spend their time discussing possible government military actions, reading newspapers and listening to the BBC every night to keep up with public and political reactions and government policies.
Well, if THAT'S not an endorsement of the BBC's position, then I wouldn't know what an endorsement is...
#2
They should be careful. People who listen to the BBC too much soon start talking in a hot-potato-in- the-mouth British accent and sprinkle every second sentence with 'ums' and 'ahs'.
And, of course, never mention the word 'terrorist'.
#3
So, for right now they are opposed to Pak policies on their adopted turf. Any chance that they have inclinations to return to Afghanistan in all of their secular glory? Where are they headed?
#4
#1
They presumably listen to the BBC's radio service which broadcasts in regional languages that no other major news network does.
#3
They seek an independent Baluchistan, possibly including the Baluch areas of Iran and Afghanistan. In once sense the Baluch's are like the Kurds of South Asia, except they have never had the opportunity to move out of tribalism into any sort of democratic experiment.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
09/19/2004 18:53 Comments ||
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The fate of a British hostage kidnapped in Baghdad is looking increasingly perilous after his captors threatened to kill him if their demands are not met. The militants said on Saturday that they will execute Kenneth Bigley and the two Americans snatched with him in 48 hours if the US does not release Iraqi women prisoners in the Abu Ghraib and Umm Qasr jails. Prime Minister Tony Blair pledged that everything possible is being done to secure Mr Bigley's release after the civil engineer was shown blindfolded and with his hands apparently bound on Arab TV station Al-Jazeera. Al-Jazeera named the extremists as suspected al Qaida supporter Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's organisation, the Tawhid and Jihad Group.
Mr Blair said: "We are monitoring the situation very closely, we are doing everything we can." He added he did not want to say anymore, for the sake of the hostage. The chilling video footage showed Mr Bigley, Jack Hensley and Eugene Armstrong seated on the floor, blindfolded with scraps of white cloth while a masked man held a rifle behind them. The hostages took turns to speak to the camera. "My name is Kenneth John Bigley, Ken," 62-year-old Mr Bigley said.
Posted by: .com ||
09/19/2004 12:50:06 AM ||
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#1
"Rebels threaten to kill Briton"
We're talking about murder. Murderers threaten to kill Briton or Rebels threaten to murder Briton would be accurate headers. I know what the hostages would call it.
#2
Murderous, camel-jockey, raghead bastards threaten to kill Briton?
Posted by: Howard UK ||
09/19/2004 9:24 Comments ||
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#3
I think the guerrillas are getting desperate. In Chechnya, kidnapping sprees coincided with money problems. Another problem the guerrillas have is inflation. They are now having to ask for serious sums of money just to cover expenses. Kidnapping alone doesn't do the trick - it's something that has to be done over and over again to generate income. And once an area has encountered an instance of kidnapping, everyone is much more alert, and bodyguards are hired.
Despite all the press attention to these events, only about a hundred kidnappings, at most, have actually occurred. And many of these are actually instances of convoys being intercepted rather than people being snatched from their homes. Instead of killing the people in the convoys, they are keeping them alive as counters in their continuing battles against the coalition.
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U.S. warplanes and artillery units fired on the insurgent-held city of Fallujah overnight, killing four people and wounding six, hospital officials said Sunday. An artillery barrage on an industrial area in Fallujah early Sunday left two people dead and two others wounded, said Dr. Ahmed Khalil of the Fallujah General Hospital. Late Saturday, U.S. warplanes unleashed missiles on a main street in the city center, killing two people and wounding four, said another hospital official, Dr. Rafea Heyad. The U.S. military had no immediate comment about the attacks on the industrial zone, but said Saturday's strikes hit a checkpoint manned by insurgents linked to alleged terror mastermind 
